A student stands at one end of a long steel railing. A friend at the other end hits the railing once with a hammer.
The railing is 680 m long.
The student hears two separate sounds from the one hit.
The speed of sound in air is 340 m/s.
Calculate the time taken for the sound to travel through the air from the hammer to the student.
The speed of sound in steel is 5000 m/s.
Calculate the time between the student hearing the two sounds.
Explain why the student hears two separate sounds.
The sound wave in the steel railing has a frequency of 2000 Hz. At the student's end, some of this sound passes from the railing into the air.
Calculate the wavelength of this sound in the air.
112 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Physics 4.3 Sound, ultrasound and infrasound, covering 4.3.1 Sound waves, vibrations and the human ear, 4.3.2 Ultrasound and infrasound, 4.3.3 Uses of ultrasound and infrasound, and 4.3.4 Sound waves passing between media. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.